Kids for Peace use the power of video to build a safer world
Caring about the well-being of the people and especially of the children in Kosovo, 28 members of the Kids for Peace club of Koshtova village in Kosovo, between the ages of 12 and 16 year old, created a way to visualize a one of the most alarming and urgent problems that 220 children from this commune, including themselves, were facing every day while going to school.
“I remember, one day, as I was going to school, a car came close to me with a high speed and its mirror caught me,” remembers Donjeta, 14, one of the students and a member of the Kids for Peace club in Kosovo. Donjeta shared her personal experience about the dangerous conditions in which children travel to and from school every day in her community, recognizing she was lucky to have only received a good scare that day. “I could escape with no injuries. But, something much worse could have happened,” she says.
Donjeta’s brush with an automobile and death on her way to class is one of the reasons why she and the other 27 members of the Kids for Peace club in Koshtova village in Kosovo decided to tackle the challenges of their insecure commute to school.
Every day, 220 children travel the same road where Donjeta was nearly hit—daring death and tempting fate to get an education as their school is located on one of the highly-transited roads that links Kosovo and Serbia. Without a sidewalk or proper shoulder, children are forced to share the road with vehicles.
Caring about the safety and well-being of their fellow students, the children from the Kids for Peace club created a video to make the problem famous and convince the adults and local authorities how desperate and dangerous their daily commute to school was.
After recording the video, with the help of World Vision staff, children arranged meetings with the secretary of the school, two teachers and with the village elder. The children exposed their audiences to the problem by showing the video they created.
“Everyone was amazed by what these children did,” says Pajtim Smolica, World Vision’s Kids for Peace Project Facilitator who helped the children record the video. “All the representatives where positive and promised to help us solve the [problem],” he added.
The Koshtova mayor, Mr. Skënder Ademi was equally. “A big bravo to these children for the amazing work they are doing!” he said. “They presented the problem in a simply way that grabbed our attention [and] that [showed] there is something to be done for this cause,” Skënder ends.
The children didn’t mince words in their request. “We want to be able to walk safely without fearing cars,” they said.
This was not the first time the issue of safe passage to school has been addressed. The director had attempted to resolve the issue before but with no result. At least initially, it appears the children’s efforts have been well received and will result in appropriate actions.
During their summer vacations, children have been busy preparing the next steps of their safe passage to school campaign if the situation is not resolved by September when classes resume. “We want to [solve] this problem using the same energy and passion we did in the beginning and we want stop till this is done,” they added, determined.
Due to their determined work, kids for peace made to convince the government to act. Therefore, the 220 children now have a proper sidewalk were they can walk safety to and from school.
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The Koshtova Kids for Peace club has 28 members who work and care about building a peaceful and safe society in their country, Kosovo. They observe the situations around them and take action when necessary to protect the rights and the lives of the children and their community. These children are always vigilant and ready to do everything to bring back the peace and the normality in the lives of people in Kosovo.